Page 56 of Never and Always
Nick would never deny anything, he wouldn’t. That’s not what worried him here. It was how Glenn had foundout.
“You read her messages?” Nick stated, trying to act cool andcalm.
“Yes, I did. Thank God my sister can be a ditz sometimes. Or I wouldn’t know what’s been going on. I would have been stupid enough to think that my best friend respected me. I would have been the idiot to think that he wouldn’t screw around with my sister behind myback.”
Shit. This was going to go all kinds ofwrong.
“Glenn, look. I’m sorry. That’s not what happened. I was going to tellyou.”
“Tell me?” Glenn laughed a crude, sarcastic laugh and stood up, looking even more angry with his red face and nostrilsflared.
“I wanted to see you face to face and tellyou.”
“Okay Nick, go on, tell me. I’m here, you’re here. Tell me how you did exactly what I asked you not to do.” Glenn’s eyeswidened.
“It’s not like that,” Nick defended. This was insane. He couldn’t believe that it really had gotten to this point. “You never asked me once how I felt about her. You just assumed I’d treat her like dirt and hurt her. It was me who was there for her during this difficult time. While you were acting like a complete prick, I’ve been trying to fixthings.”
“Nick, you did what you did because you have feelings for her. Don’t act like some kind of hero. There was an ulterior motive. Play the nice guy so she’d sleep withyou.”
“Fuck you, Glenn, you know that’s not true. You know it, and you know I would never take advantage ofher.”
Glenn laughed again, standing taller and straightening up. “You won’t take advantage of her, Nick, because it ends here. You will stop seeing her today. No more of it, and you’ll tell her yourself that it’sover.”
Nick simply stared at Glenn in disbelief. If this were another situation he would have responded straightaway with his fists, but the shock of what Glenn was saying gripped him to hiscore.
“No. I won’t do it. You can’t tell me what to do. Mia’s a grown woman who can choose who she wants to be with,” Nick said, trying to remain calm against the heat of his blood pumping wildly in hisveins.
“You bastard, after all I’ve done for you this is how you treat me?” Glennflared.
“Are you kidding me, Glenn!” Nick cried. “Are you hearing yourself? You want to turn me into the guy that will break herheart.”
“Yes. That is what you get for your lack ofrespect.”
“No.” Nick shook his head. “I won’t doit.”
“You will, Nick. Because…” Glenn held his gaze. “If you don’t, I will destroy you. I’ll make it so that you never work anywhere again. That business of yours will be history. And I’ll destroy whatever image Mia has of you. I’ll tell her every vile thing you did in your drug-induced state and amplify it a hundred times to make you look like shit. By the time I’m done with you she won’t want to know you.” Glenn widened his eyes again and really looked at him withcontempt.
“Go ahead and do it, take what you want from me. You don’t scare me with your threats,” Nick cried. “If you want, I’ll shout it from the rooftop that I used to dodrugs.”
“Look at you, like some kind of hero. You think you’re so smug. Okay, threats won’t work on you. I’m almost impressed, and would probably be more impressed if I didn’t know you for what you are.” Glenn straightened up. “Ask yourself this. Are you good enough for her? Do you really think you are? I don’t think you are. You’re far from it. You’re the selfish, arrogant bastard who got his own fatherkilled.”
The punch Nick landed in Glenn’s face came so suddenly it shocked his system. It was like the action skipped past his brain and went straight to hisfists.
He couldn’t have prevented it. It came from hitting the one nerve he couldn’tcontrol.
The subject of his father was a very, very delicate one for him. One no one should mention. It took him years to separate his responsibility in his father’s death, and even now it still plagued him. It was the kind of situation that happened and wasn’t directly his fault, but it happened because ofhim.
It was that part, that aspect, that destroyed him back then when it all happened, and Nick went through the darkest time he’d ever had in hislife.
After hard work, he’d managed to deal with his guilt, and that came from years of therapy and support. Years of accepting that his father wouldn’t want him to suffer for a sacrifice hemade.
Glenn knew this. Glenn knew the truth about the night Nick’s father died. He knew everything, and Nick never imagined that Glenn’s knowledge would make himdangerous.
“Sick bastard,” Nick seethed, looking at Glenn and shaking his head. “How dare you?” Nick felt like beating the crap out of him for being so evil, but at the same time he couldn’t help but feel the truth in hisaccusations.
“How dare I what? Point out the obvious to you? Is that what you want me to say?” Glenn retorted. “There’s no lie in it. It was your fault. What happened was your fault. Just think how Mia will feel about you when she hears you helped kill your ownfather.”
“Why would you do this to me?” Nick needed to ask, he had to know because it was crazy. Crazy and cruel. Nick thought Glenn was his friend. He was like a brother to him, and just like that he’d turned on him. All because he didn’t want him to be withMia.
